The present invention relates to home appliances such as refrigerators, dishwashers, and air conditioners. In particular, the present invention relates to a command structure that provides communication between network enabled appliances.
Appliances of the past were stand alone devices, operating on their own without cooperation between or communication among other devices. As a result (as one example) great expenditures of time and effort by repair personnel were required to diagnose problems in an appliance and to take corrective action. As another example, the current and proper operation of an appliance generally could not be determined without being physically present at the appliance. Thus, for example, whether or not the gas burner in a stove had been left on could not be determined without physical inspection.
A need has long existed in the industry for an Internet enabled appliance command structure that addresses the problems noted above and others previously experienced.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,909,183 (Borgstahl et al., filed Dec. 26, 1996, the xe2x80x9c""183 Patentxe2x80x9d) describes an interactive appliance remote controller, system and method. FIG. 3 shows appliances such as a television, radio, CD player, copier, telephone and watch. FIG. 6 shows that the appliances are addressed by an authorization process and that a connection with an appliance may begin by sending a need and capability messages that include code identifying various operations (FIGS. 7 and 8), such as appliance personalization, hard copy, visual image, audio, financial transactions and lock/unlock. If the needs and capabilities match, connection to the appliance is made by a process shown in FIG. 10. An appliance control program is uploaded to the appliance and control data is receive by a service receiving appliance over a service connection (Col. 10, lines 52-59). The appliance is then controlled. FIG. 2 illustrates a controller for the appliance, and FIGS. 20-25 describe setting of a remote controller for an appliance (Col. 16, lines 15-17). FIG. 21 illustrates a sequence of data exchange messages between a controller and an appliance. The appliance sends a set of commands/actions it can perform at the behest of the controller (Col. 16, lines 45-50).
Although the ""183 Patent describes control of an appliance based on a control program and data related to various operations identified by code, the Patent does not teach or suggest any data structure for accomplishing the stated goals. The preferred embodiment of the present invention overcomes this problem by including a command structure that facilitates appliance control via the Internet.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,229,433 B1 (Rye et al., filed Jul. 30, 1999) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,121,593 (Mansbery et al., filed Aug. 19, 1998) describe control of an appliance over an AC power line. U.S. Pat. No. 6,243,772 B1 (Ghori et al., filed Jan. 31, 1997) describes coupling of a personal computer with an appliance unit via a wireless communication link. U.S. Pat. No. 6,041,346 (Chen et al., filed Oct. 17, 1997) describes upgrading an internet appliance (FIG. 4). An appliance security system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,898,831. However, none of these patents cure the deficiencies of the ""183 Patent.
The preferred apparatus embodiment of the invention is useful for controlling an appliance. In such an environment, the preferred embodiment comprises a source of command fields for the appliance. The command fields include context subfields defining operating modes and command subfields defining operations to be performed within the context subfields. A network transmits the command fields between the source and the appliance. A controller processes the command fields so that an operation defined by one of the command subfields is performed.
The preferred method embodiment of the invention also is useful for controlling an appliance. In such an environment, the preferred embodiment comprises transmitting command fields for the appliance. The command fields include context subfields defining operating modes and command subfields defining operations to be performed within the context subfields. The command fields are processed so that an operation defined by one of the command subfields is performed.
By using the foregoing techniques, appliances may be controlled with a degree of sophistication, ease and economy previously unattainable.